Proust questionnaire: Ari Giligson, MD

Issue: BCMJ, vol. 52, No. 8, October 2010, Page 426 Proust for Physicians
By: Ari Giligson, MD,

What profession might you have pursued, if not medicine?
Engineer, sculptor, or astronaut.

Which talent would you most like to have?
Photographic memory, or being a “supertaster.”

What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Diplomatically sidestepping uncomfortable questions.

Who are your heroes?
Leonardo Da Vinci, Arthur C. Clarke, Socrates.

What is your greatest fear?
Pain and suffering to the ones I care about.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Loss of equanimity when angry.

What characteristic do your favorite patients share?
Logic, respect, sincerity.

What is your favorite activity?
Tinkering out in my workshop.

On what occasion do you lie?
Only when most appropriate.

Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
“Little,” “bit,” and “just.”

What is your most marked characteristic?
My moustache.

What technological medical advance do you most anticipate?
The paperless medical office—sometime around 2050.

What do you most value in your colleagues?
Compassion.

Who are your favorite writers?
R. Zelazny, A.C. Clarke, P.K. Dick.

What is your greatest regret?
Not having any regrets.

How would you like to die?
Whiling away the eons at the heat death of the universe.

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The Proust Questionnaire has its origins in a parlor game popularized by Marcel Proust, the French essayist and novelist, who believed that, in answering these questions, an indivi­dual reveals his or her true nature. To submit a Proust Questionnaire visit https://www.bcmj.org/content/contribute.

Ari Giligson, MD,. Proust questionnaire: Ari Giligson, MD. BCMJ, Vol. 52, No. 8, October, 2010, Page(s) 426 - Proust for Physicians.


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